QotW: What’s the best Japanese getaway car?

Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. but when a heist goes down, it’s a big one. As in, the kind you need a getaway car or two to pull off. A getaway car has to be big enough for your crew and whatever newly liberated goods they recently acquired, stealthy enough to blend in, and — in case you need it — fast. A big, 90s four-door Toyota like a JZX100 Chaser might just be the perfect weapon. It’s right there in the name.

As it turns out, you guys answered exactly how we hoped you would: by mixing a bunch of high end halo cars — like Banpei‘s nomination of a European LHD Skyline or Ant‘s suggestion of a Fairlady Z432 and the M2 Roadsters — with unintentionally rare plebian workhorses that only the most ardent JNC otaku would care about — including MainstreaM‘s Starion GX, JDMjunkies‘ Fairlady 260Z and slownrusty‘s Mazda 323 GT. But it was Mike Moore‘s entertaining proposal of the Mazda Roadpacer, a car that is both a halo car and unintentionally rare, that won the week:

Mazda Roadpacer! rare then,75-77 and very rare now, 800 built which is probably only 799 more than Mazda would have built in hindsight.
Its said that the last one wasn’t sold out of the dealers until 1979.
Most were sold to Japanese Government departments and later crushed.
Very cool in the flesh especially the paisley interior, the car that was/is all kinds of wrong but that interior is just mesmerising!

Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!

If we asume the action should take place in Japan a Subaru Legacy GT-B or Mitsubishi Galant VR4 are the best choices. I’ve would preffer wagon but a sedan body would do as well. They have good overall performance, are reliable and can haul a lot of people and gear. In Japan they are pretty common so there shoud be no problem with blending into the crowd. After high speed escape thru the city core onto the expressway these cars are agile enough to lose any tail left on some curvy mountain pass.And all that with A/C and leather seats. 8)

During the 80s in the Philippines, Mitsubishi EX Lancers were the choice getaway cars of thugs both on and off screen, particularly the bigger engined GSR and GT trim with the 1600 Saturn engines. Police cars back then were lowly Beetles so you could imagine how car chases ended up like!

congrats mike, this was the ONLY answer i’d have considered. the roadpacer also holds the distinction of being the only GM production car powered by a Wankel.

i’m assuming by now that everyone has seen the movie “Drive,” the peak (to date) of Nicholas Winding Refn’s directorial career. the first car Ryan Gosling’s character uses is a souped-up sleeper of a late model Chevy Impala. “…The most popular car in the state of California. No one will be looking at you,” as Bryan Cranston’s character states before the job.

So they took what amounts to a fleet car, a rental lot queen found in huge numbers pretty much anywhere you look, and added just enough “go” to handle hauling the clients and their take without attracting attention. If I wanted something similar with a J in the first digit of the VIN, I’d probably look for a used V6 Toyota Camry or Honda Accord (with 5 speed!) manufactured between 2006 and 2012. Performance figures place either car in the same class as Cranston’s Impala. A nondescript color would be easy enough to come by, as most of them were built in the typical appliance white/silver/gray/beige hues that blend into the morning/evening commute backdrop.

Modifications would include some uprated tires on stock alloys, stiffer springs, hidden bash bars behind the bumper covers, some cutoff switches for the exterior lighting, and a police scanner mounted on the dash… maybe a “baby on board” or “my honor student…” sticker on the rear window.

Mazda Eunos 800, AKA the Mazda Millenia. A big, 4-door luxury sedan that came with a supercharged Miller Cycle V6 and was dressed in inconspicous colors like beige, white, and silver. Can you recall what one looks like? Neither can anyone else. I rest my case.

Toyota Comfort GT-Z Supercharger. Looks like a taxi, goes like… a slightly quicker taxi. Big boot, and automatic doors like the regular Comfort so you can pop them ready for your totally-legitimate business friends to hop in after a visit to the local establishment of choice.

Late model Toyota RAV4. Bellybutton-common and completely anonymous, standard dark factory tint, plenty enough bad-road ability to get to that hideout in the woods far from any CCTV or cameraphones, and did I mention it’s anonymous as heck?

Are we pulling off this caper in Japan? And in a JNC??! I’m going for the X70 Mark II Wagon in white. They were produced from 84 to 97, so they were pretty ubiquitous for a while, and therefore anonymous. In fact, the municipality where I live still uses a handful of them for hauling stuff around town. I’m sure there are still private examples out in the wild, too. Lots of cargo space in the back, and lots of space under the hood for hopping it up. When the crew gets into the car, they can just pull on some old seafoam coveralls and cover the loot with a dirty drop cloth (or the ever popular blue tarp) to become invisible. Pull out into traffic, and suddenly you’ve disappeared.

I’m a Lexus LS guy… but for some reason I don’t think my preferred full-size luxury car quite fits. Its too ….lacking in sinistery. I think a Y32 or Y33 Cima would be about right. It looks fast and big and elegant and generic all at once.